Cattle spend much of their lives grazing in pastures. Trees in pastures provide shade to the cattle and are also aesthetically pleasing. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to plant and grow new trees in pastures where cattle are grazing. Cattle inevitably kill unprotected new trees in one or more of three ways. First, cattle eat the leaves off the lower branches. Second, cattle scratch their heads and horns against the trunk of the tree and tear off the bark. Third, cattle rub their bodies against the trunk and disrupt the root system. They can even uproot and topple the tree. Some cattle ranchers build fences or other barriers around young trees in pastures, but such fences are expensive and time-consuming to erect and to maintain. Similar damage to young trees is inflicted by other large grazing animals, both wild and domestic, including horses, sheep, goats, deer, and buffalo.
A number of reusable tree protectors and guards have been disclosed. For example, Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 2,782,561, issued Feb. 26, 1957, discloses a decorative ring surrounding a tree and resting on the ground. The Smith ring contains a channel so that a flower bed can be planted in the ring. The Smith ring would be ineffective in a cattle pasture because cattle could and would easily step on and over the ring to reach the tree.
Scharf, U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,992, issued May 26, 1981, discloses a tree protector having a cylindrical portion covering the lower 12 to 24 inches of the trunk and a base that is secured to the ground with hollow stakes. The hollow stakes form part of a system that provides water to the tree through the base. The base extends outwardly 14 to 18 inches from the trunk. The Scharf tree protector is designed for preventing damage by small animals such as rabbits and would offer no protection from cattle.
Graves, U.S. Pat. No. 4,922,652, issued May 8, 1990, discloses a tree protector having a flexible cylinder surrounding the trunk and a base that is secured to the ground with stakes. The Graves tree protector is designed to protect a young tree from strong winds and encroaching weeds. The cylinder does not rotate and the base would not prevent cattle from stepping on it and rubbing their heads and bodies against the cylindrical portion of the tree protector.
It can be seen that none of these tree protectors and guards would adequately protect a young tree from grazing animals and that a demand still exists for such a tree protector.